Proficio Capital Partners LLC Acquires 4,514,242 Shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 33,786.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,527,603 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,514,242 shares during the period. Broadcom accounts for 0.6% of Proficio Capital Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Proficio Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $1,049,679,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Broadcom by 900.0% during the third quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 150 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Canton Hathaway LLC bought a new stake in Broadcom during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Broadcom by 1,323.1% during the third quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 185 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Broadcom during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Broadcom during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Institutional investors own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Broadcom Trading Up 0.8 %

AVGO opened at $199.29 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $227.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $191.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.17. The firm has a market cap of $934.16 billion, a PE ratio of 162.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.02. Broadcom Inc. has a twelve month low of $119.76 and a twelve month high of $251.88.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.07 billion. Broadcom had a net margin of 11.43% and a return on equity of 28.00%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 51.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. This is a positive change from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.18%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 191.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Eddy W. Hartenstein sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.64, for a total transaction of $918,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 46,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,655,296. This represents a 7.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.96, for a total transaction of $10,798,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 842,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,246,926.56. This represents a 5.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 191,278 shares of company stock worth $44,964,800. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVGO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $255.00 price objective (up from $210.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Broadcom from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Broadcom from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Broadcom from $205.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Broadcom from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.04.

About Broadcom

Broadcom Inc designs, develops, and supplies various semiconductor devices with a focus on complex digital and mixed signal complementary metal oxide semiconductor based devices and analog III-V based products worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Semiconductor Solutions and Infrastructure Software.